4 surprising facts about working in corporate social responsibility

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, the business world is paying more attention to its role as a good corporate citizen, and not just for public relations. Global issues like climate change, food security, conflict, health and education have an impact on a corporation’s ability to grow and thrive. As a result, private sector companies are looking at how they can play a role in solving these challenges. Young professionals rising to leadership positions as well as those just entering the job market are increasingly seeking careers that contribute to society and pushing their employers to adopt sustainable policies to leverage the power of business for good. Often referred to as corporate social responsibility, this quickly growing career path was hardly ever mentioned even just a couple of decades ago. Yet, when I speak with young professionals about their career aspirations, a surprising number are looking to forge a career in the CSR space. While the interest is high, much remains unknown about jobs in this sector, where to find them and how to land them. If you’re looking to launch a career in corporate social responsibility, here are four surprising facts about the sector. 1. You don’t have to work for a corporation to work in CSR You can work on corporate social responsibility without ever actually working for a corporation. A lot of CSR work is done through partnerships between the private, public and civil society sectors. Government agencies, NGOs and even many development consulting firms have offices and positions devoted to creating and managing these partnerships. You can work for an NGO, for example, helping them build relationships with retailers to create products where a percentage of the proceeds goes toward a cause or your organization’s programming in that area. Or you could work with a government agency, helping to bring together big business, civil society and other governments to invest in large-scale social good projects. While you don’t need to work within the business sector to work in CSR, no matter where you work it is important to be “trilingual” when it comes to knowledge of how each sector operates to effectively collaborate. Watch: What does a masters in tri-sector collaboration look like? 2. Most jobs that do CSR work don’t have CSR anywhere in the title If you are searching the job boards, finding a job in CSR can be a challenge. There is no uniform nomenclature to how these positions are titled. They may have terms like partnerships, public affairs, sustainability or government relations in the title. Or the job title may be even vaguer with names like project manager or analyst. To help job seekers uncover these much-sought-after but hard-to-find opportunities, Devex just launched a specialized job board on Devex Impact, curating positions that work on CSR, public-private partnerships and social enterprises. If you are looking for a job with social impact, be sure to check out this new resource. 3. You don’t need to have an MBA to work in CSR There is a role for many kinds of professionals and areas of expertise in CSR. You can be a communications specialist, climate change scientist, supply chain management expert or work in food science, pharmaceuticals or education. Because corporations will invest in a wide range of social good investments and programs, they need a wide range of expertise to help oversee and manage them. A universal skill, however, is the ability to effectively communicate and collaborate. WATCH: Want to become a tri-sector athlete? Master these 3 skills 4. Career paths are often not linear Some companies have a foundation that runs all of their CSR work where it may be easier to find positions from entry to mid to senior level. However many corporations have departments embedded in the business side where most of their hiring comes from internal movement. The people running their CSR may have been working as an engineer or financial analyst previously before transitioning to this role. This means it can be even more difficult to find these opportunities — especially at the entry level — and build and grow a career specifically within CSR. Additionally, many businesses are building CSR work into the portfolio of their business units. They may not have any CSR-focused positions but rather incorporate it into everyone’s job description. So you may need to look beyond a pure CSR job and be prepared to move around between other areas of a business to grow in your career. Looking to make a career move? Visit our career center for expert advice on how to navigate your job search - all you need is a Devex Career Account to get started.